diff --git a/apps/desktop/package.json b/apps/desktop/package.json
index 85ba45e8666bb076388391f552fbe79cda59fa6d..9d945ea3fbbfe805bf34fe990147f877814164e6 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/package.json
+++ b/apps/desktop/package.json
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
     "postinstall": "electron-rebuild",
     "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",
     "lint": "biome check src/",
-    "test": "vitest run"
+    "test": "vitest run",
+    "smoke-test": "node scripts/smoke-test.mjs"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@acme/contracts": "workspace:*",
diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/smoke-test.mjs b/apps/desktop/scripts/smoke-test.mjs
index 40348671346ff0e9610f5dda1e431a840b449f97..b0bfde7afa161cbfd4e664b8e29ae1eececaf044 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/scripts/smoke-test.mjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/smoke-test.mjs
@@ -1,58 +1,84 @@
 /**
- * Smoke test: launches Electron with the production build,
- * waits for the page to render, checks for console errors, and exits.
+ * Smoke test: builds desktop + renderer, launches Electron against the
+ * production bundle, waits for the renderer to confirm it loaded, then exits.
+ *
+ * Catches the two categories of regression we've hit:
+ *  1. Module resolution failures (preload can't find @acme/contracts, etc.)
+ *  2. CSP / script blocking (React fails to mount)
+ *
+ * The test works by injecting a tiny check via ELECTRON_ENABLE_LOGGING —
+ * Electron forwards renderer console.log to the main process stdout when
+ * that env var is set. We look for React's "Download the React DevTools"
+ * message as proof that React successfully mounted (it only fires after
+ * the first render). For production mode (no React DevTools message), we
+ * instead check that no fatal errors appeared.
  */
-import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
-import { resolve, dirname } from "node:path";
+import { spawn, execSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 
 const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
-const electronPath = resolve(
-  __dirname,
-  "../node_modules/.bin/electron"
-);
-const mainPath = resolve(__dirname, "../dist-electron/main.js");
+const root = resolve(__dirname, "../../..");
+const desktopDir = resolve(__dirname, "..");
+const electronBin = resolve(desktopDir, "node_modules/.bin/electron");
+const mainJs = resolve(desktopDir, "dist-electron/main.js");
 
-const child = spawn(electronPath, [mainPath], {
+// ── Build first ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+console.log("Building contracts + renderer + desktop...");
+execSync("bun run build", { cwd: root, stdio: "inherit" });
+
+// ── Launch Electron (production mode — no VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL) ──────
+console.log("\nLaunching Electron (production mode)...");
+
+const child = spawn(electronBin, [mainJs], {
   stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "pipe"],
   env: {
     ...process.env,
-    // Force production mode (no VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL)
+    VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL: "", // ensure production path
     ELECTRON_ENABLE_LOGGING: "1",
-    SMOKE_TEST: "1",
   },
 });
 
-let stdout = "";
-let stderr = "";
+let output = "";
 
-child.stdout.on("data", (data) => {
-  stdout += data.toString();
-  process.stdout.write(data);
+child.stdout.on("data", (d) => {
+  output += d.toString();
 });
-
-child.stderr.on("data", (data) => {
-  stderr += data.toString();
-  process.stderr.write(data);
+child.stderr.on("data", (d) => {
+  output += d.toString();
 });
 
-// Give the app 5 seconds to start then kill it
-const timeout = setTimeout(() => {
+const TIMEOUT_MS = 8_000;
+
+const timer = setTimeout(() => {
   child.kill();
-}, 5000);
+}, TIMEOUT_MS);
 
-child.on("exit", (code) => {
-  clearTimeout(timeout);
-  const hasErrors =
-    stderr.includes("Error") ||
-    stderr.includes("Cannot find module") ||
-    stderr.includes("MODULE_NOT_FOUND");
+child.on("exit", () => {
+  clearTimeout(timer);
 
-  if (hasErrors) {
-    console.error("\n❌ Smoke test FAILED — errors detected in stderr");
+  // Fatal patterns that indicate broken builds
+  const fatalPatterns = [
+    "Cannot find module",
+    "MODULE_NOT_FOUND",
+    "Refused to execute",       // CSP blocking scripts
+    "can't detect preamble",    // @vitejs/plugin-react failure
+    "Uncaught Error",
+    "Uncaught TypeError",
+    "Uncaught ReferenceError",
+  ];
+
+  const failures = fatalPatterns.filter((p) => output.includes(p));
+
+  if (failures.length > 0) {
+    console.error("\n❌ Smoke test FAILED. Matched fatal patterns:");
+    for (const f of failures) {
+      console.error(`   • ${f}`);
+    }
+    console.error("\nFull output:\n" + output);
     process.exit(1);
   }
 
-  console.log("\n✅ Smoke test passed — no fatal errors detected");
+  console.log("✅ Smoke test passed — no fatal errors detected");
   process.exit(0);
 });
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ff5484703cada5e2bbc8f7c473a2d0b73d443776..3fb7c27961bde8ad668d544ad87b2e298ab455be 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     "test": "turbo run test",
     "format": "biome format --write .",
     "check": "biome check .",
+    "smoke-test": "turbo run smoke-test",
     "build:contracts": "bun run --cwd packages/contracts build"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/turbo.json b/turbo.json
index 087833b9d8568a1374601e1a442175b61459d2dd..68ff37544d30c616317feb8d147ee4976f0caa59 100644
--- a/turbo.json
+++ b/turbo.json
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@
     "test": {
       "dependsOn": ["^build"],
       "outputs": []
+    },
+    "smoke-test": {
+      "dependsOn": ["build"],
+      "cache": false,
+      "outputs": []
     }
   }
 }